Katharevousa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| History of the Greek language (see also: Greek alphabet) |
| Proto-Greek (c. 2000 BC)
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| Mycenaean (c. 1600–1100 BC)
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| Ancient Greek (c. 800–300 BC) Dialects: Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, Attic-Ionic, Doric, Pamphylian; Homeric Greek. Possible dialect: Macedonian. |
| Koine Greek (from c. 300 BC)
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| Medieval Greek (c. 330–1453)
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| Modern Greek (from 1453) Dialects: Cappadocian, Cretan, Cypriot, Demotic, Griko, Katharevousa, Pontic, Tsakonian, Yevanic |
Katharevousa (Greek: Καθαρεύουσα, IPA: [kaθaˈrɛvusa]) is a form of the Greek language, set in motion during the early 19th century by Greek intellectual and revolutionary leader Adamantios Korais (1748-1833). A graduate of the University of Montpellier in 1788, Korais spent most of his life as an expatriate in Paris. Being a classical scholar, he was repelled by the Byzantine influence in Greek society and was a fierce critic of the ignorance of the clergy and their subservience to the Ottoman Empire. He held that education was a precursor to Greek liberation.
Katharevousa was set at a midpoint between Ancient Greek and Modern Greek. It stressed both more ancient vocabulary and a condensed form of the archaic grammar.
Part of its purpose was to mediate the struggle between the “archaists” favouring full reversion to archaic forms and the “modernists”. One reason the Archaists preferred Ancient Greek was that Modern Greek includes Latin, Italian and Turkish loan words; and Greece then was a part of the Ottoman Empire. The original name Katharevousa could have been translated as “clean one” implying a form of Greek without additional influences, as it may hypothetically have independently evolved from Ancient Greek, but in its modern Greek connotation it means "formal one".
In later years, Katharevousa was used for official and formal purposes (such as politics, letters, official documents, and newscasting) while Dhimotiki, (δημοτική) ‘demotic’ or popular Greek, was the daily language. This created a diglossic situation whereby most of the Greek population was excluded from the public sphere and advancing in education. However, in 1976 Dhimotiki was made the official language and by the end of the 20th century full Katharevousa in its earlier form had become obsolete. However, the grammar and syntactical rules that Katharevousa adopted, and much vocabulary from the Katharevousa strand, have come into contact with Dhimotiki during the two centuries of its existence, so that the project's emphasis has made an observable contribution to the language as it is used today.[1]
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Diglossia
- Linguistic purism
- Greek language question
- Greek orthographybr:Katharevousa
bg:Катаревуса de:Katharevousa el:Καθαρεύουσα eo:Katarevuso fr:Katharévousa gl:Katharevousa id:Katharevousa it:Katharevousa nl:Katharevousa ja:カサレヴサ pl:Katharewusa pt:Katharévussa tr:Katarevusa
